Dumb rule at the Rio: The maid will force-enter your room after 3 days no matter what

[Dan Druff]

I just had it out with the Rio over this matter.

They have an idiotic policy in place that the maid HAS to come into your room at least once every three days. If you leave a Do Not Disturb sign up, they will force their way in after 3 days!

Supposedly this is for a "welfare and safety check", but that's BS. If you offer to appear at the front desk and indicate that you're fine, they will still demand to come into the room after 3 days.

I think it's more along the lines of wanting to see if you damaged the room, so they can get a handle on the situation before you stay for a long time and fuck it up really badly.

It is VERY tough to get them to make exceptions to this policy. Two years ago, after a lot of arguing, management agreed to make an exception for me regarding this. Then I came up to my room during a WSOP break and found a maid and two other people in my room, looking around.

I got really angry, and confronted the maid (whom I had personally informed the prior day about management agreeing not to let anyone come in), and she frantically told me in broken English, "I didn't want come in! Supervisor, he make me! He say I have to!"

Apparently some jerk housekeeping supervisor decided that he was going to overrule the exception that was made for me by management, and told the maid to force her way in, and to bring two male housekeepers with her for protection.

Last year I made a big deal about this not repeating, and they stayed out, but it took a lot of persistence, including reminding them a second time when they put a notice on my door that they were going to come in the next day.

Yesterday I again got management to agree to make an exception, only to get a "text message" on my hotel phone (I had to call the operator to get it -- LOL), telling me that the housekeeping supervisor had overruled it, and "Thank you for your cooperation". I called up and complained again, and they re-overruled the housekeeping supervisor and promised me this wouldn't happen.

So ridiculous. Why is this so difficult?

Bottom line is that I don't need housekeeping in here unless I've been in the room for a long time. I'm switching rooms after 5 days anyway, so I don't need them at all. I don't want to give anyone from the hotel any excuse to come into this room.

This is important at the Rio, as poker tournaments have been a big target around the world (including the US) for room thefts, for obvious reasons.

[Alan Mendelson]

May I ask why you don't want housekeeping in your room to change sheets, towels, clean the sinks, shower, etc.?

I understand you might have a laptop and cash and if you don't trust the room safe, laptops are meant to be carried and there are banks nearby. There is a BofA about ten minutes from the Rio down Flamingo. There are others on Sahara and on the other side of the Strip, too.

[Dan Druff]

No poker player is going to bring his laptop down to the tournament or cash back and forth to the bank.

My maid at home comes once per week. Why do I need a maid at more than that frequency when in a hotel?

[Alan Mendelson]

My maid at home comes once per week. Why do I need a maid at more than that frequency when in a hotel?

Because you're in a hotel???

[regnis]

I left some dirty underware there 3 years ago. Have Jason take a look for them. Could be under the bed.

[Alan Mendelson]

I left some dirty underware there 3 years ago. Have Jason take a look for them. Could be under the bed.

Wrong thread. Jason is at Harrah's and he doesn't want to "find" anything else.

[redietz]

Personally, if I am "working" in Las Vegas, I prefer nobody in my room unless specifically called to do so. I have things in my room (not money or a laptop) that I do not want people to access and that simply cannot be carried around all of the time. I don't play poker, but I could see how stashing all of your money or notes in a backpack and lugging that from table to table would be a distraction.

My thinking on this is if corporate bigwigs are staying at a Residence Inn or Courtyard, and they leave instructions for nobody to access their rooms, management will make damn sure nobody does. If a professional is in Las Vegas and requests the same, his request should be similarly honored without hesitation.

[Alan Mendelson]

My thinking is this: the only one who is going to steal from your room is the person who you do not expect to have access to your room. In other words, I doubt the housekeeping staff would rob you. I think it's someone who gets access to the housekeeping keys is the one who is going to rob you.

But this brings up a bigger and more serious issue:

I think all of the casinos have done away with the safe deposit boxes they used to have at the cage. Caesars did this a couple of years ago and that surprised me.

There is another option for your cash: you can have a players account at the cage and withdraw your cash anytime, in any amount.

I don't have a solution for the laptop.

[redietz]

The negative to the cage withdrawal is that it's in plain view, and anybody working the cage would be aware of it. It's like those ATMs downtown at the front of stores -- you're in plain view.

[Rob.Singer]

Why does anybody bring a laptop to a hotel room unless you're on a business trip where it goes everywhere you do? If it still goes missing, bite your upper lip and just buy a new one.

And Dan, why on earth do you let such trivial issues as the hotel maid policy bother you? You really need to know how to relax more, or else you will never reach retirement age.

[Vegas Vic]

My thinking is this: the only one who is going to steal from your room is the person who you do not expect to have access to your room. In other words, I doubt the housekeeping staff would rob you. I think it's someone who gets access to the housekeeping keys is the one who is going to rob you.

But this brings up a bigger and more serious issue:

I think all of the casinos have done away with the safe deposit boxes they used to have at the cage. Caesars did this a couple of years ago and that surprised me.

There is another option for your cash: you can have a players account at the cage and withdraw your cash anytime, in any amount.

I don't have a solution for the laptop.

I don't know what the dimensions of the Rio's in-room safe are, but I'm able to store my laptop (15.6" screen) inside the room safe at the Flamingo.

[nerakil]

Why does anybody bring a laptop to a hotel room unless you're on a business trip where it goes everywhere you do? If it still goes missing, bite your upper lip and just buy a new one.

And Dan, why on earth do you let such trivial issues as the hotel maid policy bother you? You really need to know how to relax more, or else you will never reach retirement age.

Rob: Because there is an online tournament that awards a World Series of Poker bracelet this summer.

And I think no one is heading over to the Clark County Library on Flamingo to play poker.

TW: was there ever a resolution to those two Rio theft cases? I know you speculated (and I think correctly) on your radio show that one or both of them blew the money in the pits or slot machines.

[Rob.Singer]

An online tournament at a hotel in LV? Then think of it as a business trip and when leaving the room just hide the thing, like under the mattress is inside a pillow if it won't fit in the safe.

[seemoreroyals]

Why does anybody bring a laptop to a hotel room unless you're on a business trip where it goes everywhere you do? If it still goes missing, bite your upper lip and just buy a new one.

And Dan, why on earth do you let such trivial issues as the hotel maid policy bother you? You really need to know how to relax more, or else you will never reach retirement age.

We always bring our laptop with us. Even though we both have i-phones the laptop is so much easier to view the internet with. With free wi-fi at the airport and free wi-fi from CET we use the heck out of our laptop while on gambling trips. We take our google chromebook which is large enough to be practical but small enough to fit in the safe.

And on original topic I agree with Dan in that I don't want housekeeping in our room either. Most of our trips are 3 to 4 days. If we need extra towels, soaps, toiletries or anything else I will let them know.

[Rob.Singer]

That's correct. I too do not ever want some third world hustler rummaging thru my room. I never have stayed more than 2 nights, and I almost always check into 3,4,5 hotels on the same trip in order to get other people rooms or get the freeplay etc.. Always put up the do not disturb sign, always call housekeeping to make sure they always "know" I'm in the room "working or sleeping" and not to bother me, then I always call each hotel from home or wherever I am to check out, saying I got up late and had to rush out because I had a plane to catch.

[Alan Mendelson]

I wonder if that sports betting ring that operated out of a luxury villa at Caesars Palace had maid service?

[Dan Druff]

One of my friends had a room at the Rio in the Masquerade Tower (you don't want this tower, btw) and it had a bad refrigerator (ice buildup / way too cold) and an A/C unit that was too weak. Maintenance man came up while I was there and was surprised that the room "passed inspection". He said that the refrigerator had obvious ice and should have been replaced, and the A/C filter was filthy and hadn't been cleaned in ages. He told me that someone wasn't doing their job.

I asked him whose responsibility it was to inspect these things. He said, "The housekeeping supervisor."

I told him what the housekeeping supervisor was actually doing with his/her time.

[redietz]

Dan, when you have some time, please let us know which tower has what. I haven't stayed there in a couple of years, but I seem to recall the Ipanema Tower is through an area with a couple of stores and the Masquerade tower is in the back with the pretzel place and all that. I take it that the Masquerade Tower is older and not renovated? I'll probably be staying there in August, so any tips are appreciated. If you use valet, I guess Ipanema is best, and if you self-park, Masquerade is closer?

I stayed there way back when it first opened. Back then, I was happy to get discounted rates during the soft opening, and Rio was considered a high end locale. Now it's at the bottom of the CET priority list.

[Alan Mendelson]

Rio was considered a high end locale.

I remember when the Rio first opened and it was the hip place to be in Vegas, and then it had its run. The next hip place was the Palms, and it had its run too.

Remember -- Caesars wants to dump, I mean sell, the Rio so it's not putting any money into it. Unfortunately, no other company will buy the Rio without the WSOP staying there and Caesars wants to move the WSOP to Caesars Palace and its big, unused, convention center behind the swimming pools, along with its ballrooms.

[redietz]

I may have missed something on the site, but when I scouted for room rates on the Rio website, I was not able to tell from the individual room descriptions which rooms were in which tower.

I often wonder about how much interface goes on between security and the front desk. We were in line for registration at the Rio a couple of years ago and had booked a normal room, but evidently someone recognized us while we were in line, and when we reached the desk, they had already put us in one of the major suites.